Cinnamon Pear Galette
This Cinnamon Pear Galette is an easy fall dessert perfect for holiday entertaining! Homemade pie crust is topped with a spiced pear filling and sprinkled with turbinado sugar. Think of it as a rustic pie!
This Is One of My Favorite Desserts to Make with Fresh Pears
There are so many ways to fill a fresh fruit galette! I’ve made a strawberry version, a mixed berry version, and even one with almonds and apricots.
This pear-filled galette is my favorite to make in the fall when fresh pears are in season. It’s a simple yet impressive dessert that’s great for dinner parties and would be a delicious alternative to apple pie on Thanksgiving!
Here’s why I think you should make this too:
✔ Super Easy: A galette is essentially a free-form, rustic fruit pie. I think they’re much easier than traditional pies because it’s okay if they don’t look perfect!
✔ Spiced Pear Flavor: I used both pear butter and fresh pears in the filling and used a blend of spices to add lots of warmth.
✔ Flexible Recipe: I love making my own galette dough, but you may use store-bought pie crust to save time.
Enjoy!
-Katie
Ingredient Notes
This recipe includes a homemade galette dough as well as the cinnamon pear filling. Here’s an overview of the key ingredients you’ll need (a full list with measurements is provided in the recipe card below).
- Pie Crust — I prefer making my own galette dough using a blend of flours, sugar, butter, vinegar, and cold water. To save time, feel free to swap in quality pre-made pie dough from the refrigerated section of your local grocery store.
- Pears — When I make a pear galette, I like to use a combination of red and green anjou pears, leave the skin on, and alternate them for a pop of contrasting colors. You may also use Bartlett, Starkrimson, and Bosc pears. The only variety of pears I DON’T recommend using are Asian pears.
- Cornstarch — Sprinkling the pie crust with a little cornstarch prevents it from turning soggy as the galette bakes.
- Turbinado Sugar — Adds sweetness and a subtle crunch. Feel free to use granulated sugar instead.
- Pear Butter — Has a concentrated pear flavor that you can’t get by using just fresh pears. If you don’t already have pear butter, or don’t want to prepare my recipe for it, you would probably be just fine substituting apple butter, pear jam, or apple jam when making this pear galette.
- Cinnamon and Cardamom — If your pears are ripe and juicy, you don’t need many spices to make the galette taste good!
- Almond Extract — Is added to the pear filling and the whipped cream to make a pear almond galette.
- Maple Syrup — Sweetens the filling and deepens the flavor.
How to Make a Pear Galette
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- Make the galette dough. Essentially all you have to do is cut the butter into the dry ingredients, then make a slurry with the wet ingredients before whisking them in.
- Roll into a 14-inch circle. This is a fairly wet dough, so it will need to be frozen for 10 minutes after being rolled out.
- Sprinkle with cornstarch. This is a crucial step! Sprinkling the pie dough with cornstarch and sugar creates a barrier between the moist pears and the crust, which prevents it from turning soggy.
- Top with pear slices. I fanned out the pears in a pretty spoke-like pattern, but you can make yours more or less rustic than mine.
- Brush with pear butter. To the pear butter, mix in the almond extract, spices, and maple syrup. Gently warm in the microwave to make it easier to brush over the pie crust and pears.
- Bake until golden. This spiced pear galette is delicious all on its own, but it tastes even better served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, some almond whipped cream (recipe below!), and/or a drizzle of bourbon vanilla caramel sauce.
The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
Recipe Tips
- The pear slices should be thin (about 1/4 inch thick) so they cook properly.
- A lightly floured work surface will help ensure the pie dough doesn’t stick while you’re rolling it out.
- A sheet of parchment paper works well to transfer the galette from your work surface to the baking pan.
Make Ahead Instructions
- Galette dough — Can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Keep it wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
- Pear butter — Can be made and stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks before using.
- Entire galette — Can be baked and stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours before serving.
More Pear Recipes You’ll Love
I have several pear recipes on my site, but these are the ones I make most often.
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Pear Galette Recipe
A homemade galette crust is topped with a spiced pear filling and sprinkled with turbinado sugar in this cinnamon pear galette recipe. This is an easy fall dessert perfect for holiday entertaining!
Ingredients
Galette Crust
- 5.25 ounces whole-wheat pastry flour
- 2.25 ounces oat flour
- 4 tablespoons ice water
- 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, divided
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
Filling
- 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
- 1 3/4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 pounds firm ripe pear, cored and sliced in 1/4 inch slices
- 1/4 cup pear butter
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
For the Almond Whipped Cream
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste or Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1 teaspoon Powdered Sugar
Instructions
Make the galette crust:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Lightly spoon 1.375 ounces whole-wheat pastry flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Then, combine the pastry flour with ice water, vinegar, and almond extract in a small bowl; stir with a fork until well blended to form a slurry.
- Combine remaining whole wheat flour, oat flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, almond flour, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
- Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add slurry; stir just until moist.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 5 times. Gently press dough into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap. Cover with additional plastic wrap. Carefully roll dough into a 14-inch circle; freeze for 10 minutes.
- Remove dough from freezer; remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Let stand 1 minute or until pliable.
- Place dough, plastic wrap side up, onto a baking sheet (I used a pizza stone) lined with parchment paper; remove remaining plastic wrap.
Make the pear filling:
- Combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons sugar; sprinkle over dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
- Arrange pears spoke-like on top of cornstarch mixture, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold edges of dough over pears (dough will only partially cover pears).
- Combine pear butter, 1/8 teaspoon almond extract, cinnamon, cardamom, and maple syrup in a small microwave-safe bowl; microwave on HIGH 45 seconds. Brush jam mixture over pears and dough edges. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
- Bake at 400°F for 35 minutes or until crust browns. Remove from oven. Cool 15 minutes.
Preparing the Whipped Cream
- Combine the cold heavy cream, vanilla or vanilla paste, and almond extract in a chilled non-reactive bowl. Whisk by hand or using an electric mixture until the cream holds a loose peak. A soft peak will hold a lazy curve when the beater or whisk is held upside down.
- Sprinkle the sugar on top of the whipped cream and continue beating until stiff peaks are formed.
- Serve each slice of galette with a dollop of almond whipped cream on top.
Notes
Almond flour: If you can't find almond flour, just pulse some almonds in the food processor until finely ground.
To store: Leftovers will last up to 3 days on the counter or 3 months in the freezer. If freezing, wrap in a couple layers of plastic wrap and / or store in a freezer bag to prevent freezer burn.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 632Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 279mgCarbohydrates: 97gFiber: 10gSugar: 41gProtein: 11g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Diane {createdbydiane.blogspot.com} says
Looks great! Nice to see it on PW’s website 🙂 my pie was on there too.
shirlsaw says
You don’t reference all purpose flour in the ingredient list but your first sentance calls for it. However if made according to your directions you don’t end up with a slurry with both all purpose and the pastry flour. Is the all purpose flour a mistake in the instructions and are you really refering to just whole wheat pastry flour in the slurry?
Katie says
sorry for the typo. the recipe this was adapted from originally called for all-purpose. recipe is corrected now.
wendy says
Mmmm!! That look so yummy! I’m going to be making that tonight I think… if the snow lets up and I can go stock up on pears.
I’m here via Pioneer Woman… love your blog 🙂
Cait says
When I was a nanny I took care of Scandinavia’s pickiest twins. Meal times were only slightly more humane than back room interrogations. To get past this I found little pie forms (Think individual quiche) and I filled them with all sorts of things. There was usually room for 2 berries, a wedge of pear cubed, a little banana and a grape or two. They loved the variety and I was able to get a better idea of what they liked based on what was left. After a week or so we moved on to vegetables, which might as well have been waterboarding…
Sharlene says
This is beautiful. Congratulations on your little foodie in training!
Jenny says
This sounds like an absolutely delicious recipe but I keep seeing the word ‘apricots’ in the recipe and instructions, I assume you mean ‘pears’, but it’s a little confusing at first. Still, soon as I can get some pears from the farmer’s market this one’s going in my oven!
Kristen says
Gorgeous! We love pears around here… need to bake with them more often!
Robyn says
That red pear is gorgeous, Katie!
Debbie B. says
These look incredible! The pears are gorgeous and the colors are great in the photos!
naomi says
This looks gorgeous! Wow. I love pears and the recipe looks fantastic.
HappyWhenNotHungry says
This crostata looks delicious and perfect for the fall… thanks for sharing!
Sues says
I love how beautifully rustic this looks. I always say I need to bake with pears more and this is definitely encouraging me!